... you're part of me,
we're melting into each other
life's mysteries, no,
none of it seems to matter
i can feel, i can feel ...

....................

    Jacen went to the crib, where a round-faced newborn lay cooing and blowing milk bubbles at Tenel Ka. With hair so thin and downy that it still lacked color and a face more wrinkled than an Ugnaughts, she did not really look like anyone. But when the infant turned to squint up at Jacen, Jacen experienced such a shock of connection that he forgot himself and reached down to touch the child on the chest.
    "Go ahead and pick her up, Jacen."
 

... she's not the kind of girl
who likes to tell the world
about the way she feels about herself
She takes a little time
in making up her mind
She doesn't want to fight against the tide ...

....................

    She embraced Luke with her one arm, then surprised Leia by embracing her and Han. "You mean more to me than I will ever be able to tell, my friends. I am going to miss you both."
    "Miss us?" Han replied. "This isn't forever, kid. We're going to visit, you know."
    "That's right," Leia added, returning the Queen Mother's embrace. "Your security chief may not allow baby holos, but I still want to see your daughter -- and if we have to come all the way to Hapes to do it, we will."
    Tenel Ka stiffened in Leia's arms. "That would be... nice." She stepped back, her anxiety permeating the Force. "Be sure to let us know when you are coming, so we can arrange the proper security."
 

[ instrumental ]

....................

    "I am not worried about what Gorog did to him," Tenel Ka answered. "I am worried about those bruises on his throat."
    Jacen stood, his vision clearing, and went to his young cousin's side. The impression of his thumb and forefinger were purple and deep, clearly made in anger, but Ben's breathing was regular and untroubled.
    "There's no need to worry." Jacen placed his fingers over the bruises and touched Ben through the Force. "They'll fade in no time."
    Tenel Ka frowned. "That is not the point, Jacen."
 

... i couldn't wait
to hold you like a baby

here's what it feels like
you are here now

oh but I
can't seem to find our state of grace
who knows tomorrow may never come
one touch, one look that is all it takes
these things forever change us

this is the sound of a feeling that's caught in my head
make me think about something you said
take away my fears ...

....................

    Jacen slowed. "Tenel Ka..." He didn't need to wonder exactly what she was asking; he could feel it in the Force. "I didn't come here to become your paramour."
    "You won't. Paramours are playthings." She stopped in full view of the pond's bank and gave him a long, warm kiss. "And I would never play with you, Jacen Solo."
 

... i could get away
take a moment in the sun
motivation made a fool of everyone
lay me down, lay me down
i can't see too far away
we're driving, we're driving out of here
with nothing
and nothing left to lose
we're driving me out of here ...

....................

    "At least we know what they're after. Any idea who --"
    "Jacen, I have kept myself in seclusion for months," Tenel Ka said. "And most of my nobles have guessed why. The list of suspects includes every family who has reason to believe the child does not carry their blood."
    "Oh." Jacen had forgotten -- if he had ever really understood -- just how perilous and lonely Tenel Ka's life really was. "So that would include --"
    "All of them," Tenel Ka finished.
    "Well, at least it's simple."
 

... i will eat you alive
there will be no more lies ...

....................

      Ta'a Chume grew nervous. "What are you doing?"
    "I'd like some answers, and we don't have long before the security team arrives."
    Jacen pushed the scalp-hood aside, then plunged his fingers into Ta'a Chume's red-dyed hair and began to massage her scalp.
    "So we can do this the easy way..." He pressed his thumbs into the base of her skull, then sent a tiny charge of Force energy shooting through her brain. "... or we can do it the hard way."
    Ta'a Chume gasped in pain, then said, "You're a Jedi! You can't do this."
    "Sure I can," Jacen said. "The Jedi learned some new tricks during the war with the Yuuzhan Vong -- or hadn't you heard?"
 

... don't make a sound
shh and listen
keep your head down
we're not safe yet
don't make a sound
and be good for me
'cause I know the way to somewhere out here ...

....................

      "Would you like to get your feet wet?"
    "Why not?" Jacen eyed the twenty-meter distance to the island. "Only our feet?"
    "Trust me." Pulling him along, Tenel Ka stepped out onto the water. Her feet sank only to the ankles. "Walk only where I walk, or it will be more than your feet."
    Jacen did as she ordered and found himself standing atop a stone pier concealed just beneath the surface of the murky water.
    "The Secret Way," Tenel Ka said. "It is an ancient Hapan defense -- and it leads to the only place I can ever truly be alone."
 

... my dearest Ophelia - there are things I never told you
falling into the dream
my dearest Ophelia - can you trust in me no more ...

....................

    "Jacen Solo," Ta'a Chume said. "I'd ask how you sneaked into my private chamber -- but that's what Jedi do, isn't it?"
    "Among other things." Nothing that she had not taken her hands out of the manicure gloves, he said, "You can signal for help all you like -- your bodyguards won't be coming -- but please don't attempt to point that hold-out blaster at me. I promised Tenel Ka I wouldn't kill you, and I'll be very angry if you make me break my word."
 

... every sleepy light
must say goodbye
to day before it dies
in a sea of honey
a sky of honey
keep us close to your heart
so if the skies turn dark
we may live on in
comets and stars...

....................

    "Then I'll stay. But it can only be one night."
    "One night is fine."
 

... conversations,
are something of the past
investigations,
of everything that holds us back
they're contrition is deserved
he'd like to disappear
find a new home
for your salty tears ...

....................

    "You felt Raynar's call?" Jacen asked.
    "Yes. In the end, I had to keep myself locked in the palace. I didn't know who it was from. I thought maybe..." When Tenel Ka turned to face him, her gray eyes were clear and steady, but she had not bothered to wipe the tear tracks from her cheeks. "I have heard that a colony of Killiks is threatening Chiss space."
    In that moment, the entire weight of the last five years' loneliness fell on Jacen's heart, and he wanted nothing more than to take Tenel Ka in his arms and kiss her.
    Instead, he said, "It's a complicated situation."
 

... and in the land of star crossed lovers
and barren hearted wanderers
forever lost in forsaken missives and satan's pull
we seek the unseekable and we speak the unspeakable
our hopes dead gathering dust to dust
in faith, in compassion, and in love

....................

    "And congratulations on the baby. Wait until Uncle Han and Aunt Leia hear -- they'll go nova!"
    Tenel Ka furrowed her brow. "Ben, you mustn't tell anyone."
    "I mustn't?" Ben looked confused. "Why not? Aren't you guys married?"
    "No, but that isn't why. The situation is..." Tenel Ka looked to Jacen for help. "...complicated."
    "We are in love," Jacen said. "We always have been."
    "Fact," Tenel Ka said. "And that's all that matters."
 

... if I could tear you from the ceiling
i'd freeze us both in time
and find a brand new way of seeing
your eyes forever glued to mine

don't go and leave me
and please don't drive me blind
don't go and leave me
and please drive me blind
please don't drive me blind...

....................

    Their gazes met, and neither hurried to look away. "So, you've come to ask me to leave here and help track down Lomi and Welk, before they create a whole legion of Dark Jedi?"
    Jacen's heart leapt. "You could do that?"
    Tenel Ka smiled, but her eyes turned sad. "No, Jacen. It was a joke."
 

... there's definitely, definitely, definitely no logic
to human behaviour
but yet so, yet so irresistible ...

....................

    "You would not believe what they do to curry favor."
    Jacen raised his brow. "The amputations?"
   "Fencing accidents," Tenel Ka snorted. The path came to a jungle pond, complete with a waterfall and a small island rising out of the green water. "To judge by the number of limbs being preserved in Hapan cryovats, most of my idiot nobles have no idea which end of the sword to hold."
    They stopped at the edge of the pond, and Jacen leaned down so that his voice would not carry up the path. "You do know we're not alone, don't you?"
    "Of course." Tenel Ka turned and raised her voice. "Be gone -- or I will ask Jacen to take your other arms."
 

... when the joys of living just leave you cold
frozen from the failing mess you've made your own
and if you want an ending to your screenplay life
well here's the consolation
that will change your heart and mind ...

....................

   "You cannot see anything from there, Jacen. Come in." Tenel Ka was as beautiful as ever -- perhaps even more so. Her complexion was rosy and luminous, and her gray eyes were sparkling with joy. "I have someone to introduce you to."
    "So I see." It was all Jacen could do to hide his disappointment. Though he had long known that Tenel Ka's position would require her to take a Hapan husband, this was hardly the way he had expected her to break the news. "Congratulations."
 

... if you only knew the plans they had for us
they used to have pulses in them
but impulse has made the strong ...

....................

    "Your grandmother?" Jacen lifted Ben in his arms and followed. "You think Ta'a Chume is behind this?"
    "I know she is," Tenel Ka said. She stopped at the door and faced Jacen with narrowed eyes. "The only ones who know about the escape tunnel are the Queen Mother... and the former Queen Mother."
 

... and I can't breathe when you cry
but I'll be there to hold you tight
and I would kill, I would fight
to keep you close, I keep singing the same way
i won't live if you died
if I could feel you in the wind
and this is me, it's my life
i need you close to sing, it's the same beginning ...

....................

    "Jacen!" she cried. "Welcome!"
    "Thank you." It warmed Jacen's heart to find such an enthusiastic reception. "It's good to see you again, Queen Mother."
    As Jacen stepped forward to receive her embrace, half a dozen burly Hapans blocked his way. One of them, an icy-eyed noble with neck-length blond hair and no left hand, glanced back at Tenel Ka. "This man is a friend of yours, Queen Mother?"
    "Clearly, Droekle." Tenel Ka pushed between Droekle and an even larger noble missing an entire forearm. "Would I wish to hug him if he weren't?"
    She pressed herself tightly enough to Jacen's chest for him to tell that a lot had changed in last five years -- all for the better. Jacen hugged her back and, noting the noxious glowers from her male courtiers, tried not to smirk.
 

... it's like I hardly see the sky somedays
it's like you hardly said a word
it's like I hardly see the sky somedays
and I'd do better if I turned my head
knowing you did

knowing you called
knowing you held her
knowing you kissed
knowing you did all this ...

....................

    They did not understand the Killiks the way Jacen did. The Colony had been harmless once, but Raynar and Welk and Lomi Plo had changed the insects. They had brought the knowledge of good and evil to an innocent species, had created a hidden aspect of the Colony's collective mind that would forever be obsessed with vengenance, hatred, and conquest. The Killiks had become an aberration, and they had to be destroyed. It was the only way to stop the eternal war.
    It was the only way to save his daughter.