"Mind your left side!"

Lux snapped his arm out just in time to block the Alynna's jab – which was aimed at his right, not his left. "Trying to trick me, are you?" he said, pleased he'd caught the feint in time to react.

She dodged back out of reach of his answering strike, shrugging as she dropped down into a ready position. "It's good advice at any time."

"Even when it's a misdirection?"

Alynna gave a secretive smile, then shot forward, trying to catch him with the same high kick he'd fallen prey to on his first day of training. Since then, she'd taught him how to widen his stance and tense his shoulder, absorbing the shock without giving her an opening – but instinct was telling him to do otherwise now. He ducked beneath her leg and aimed another punch at her stomach while she was off-balance.

She danced away again before his knuckles could do more than graze her. It was closer than he'd ever gotten before, though, so Lux counted it as a victory.

"Good," she said, circling him. He fell into step with her, mirroring her every move. "Maybe I should stop going so easy on you, now that you're thinking on your feet more often. Even if I did say not to use your kickboxing know-how this round."

Lux chewed on his lip, suitably chastened, but didn't apologize for breaking the rules of the exercise. If it saved him another bruise, he was willing to cut corners.

"Mind your left," Alynna said again, and he nearly snorted.

"That was a fifty-fifty chance last time. Now it's downright transparent."

Her smile bled into a grin. Then she charged him faster than he'd ever seen her move – faster than he'd ever seen anyone move.

Lux had no time to think about how to counter her. He fell back on Saw's old teachings without meaning to, trying to give himself some space with a Corellian front kick. He soon came to regret it. Alynna sidestepped him easily, and with a hard punch to his left flank and a sweeping kick to take out his single pillar of support – his right leg – she knocked him to the ground.

His knees took the brunt of the impact, but his side ached from the punch. Lux groaned and gingerly touched his fingertips to it. So much for not getting any more bruises. "Some warning that was."

"But I did warn you," Alynna chirped, putting her hands on her hips.

Lux was tempted to roll his eyes. He forced a smile instead. "To be honest, I worry about how often you keep beating me up. I understand why I'm getting beat up, thanks to your lessons, but I don't feel like I'm making any progress."

"I have more experience with beating people up than teaching them," she said softly, oddly contemplative. "But don't worry. Your reflexes will start to kick in soon – if you're not afraid to make mistakes and get hit enough for them to form."

Her tone had turned more than a little patronizing. Lux winced. "I'm sorry. I don't mean any disrespect – especially when I asked for this. I'll do better."

"You have to tell that to yourself, not to me," she said, and extended a hand to help him up. After a moment's hesitation, Lux took it.

She pulled him to his feet easily, and for the umpteenth time, he marveled at the sheer strength in her deceptively slender frame. It had to be a Togruta thing, but he couldn't understand how she could haul him around so easily.

He eyed her bare arms and torso. She had little obvious muscle to speak of, but she did have curves he found extremely appealing. Dressed as she was in formfitting leggings and a low-cut sports bra, the soft swell of her chest and perfect roundness of her hips were on a very tasteful display.

Lux shook himself, mortified he'd let his thoughts drift someplace so crass. The wind had shifted, bringing warm air up from the flatlands near Kyzeron. They'd both stripped off their upper layers to keep from overheating as they sparred, but just because Lux had more places to look didn't mean he had an excuse to stare.

Alynna strolled off to get a water bottle from their bag, stretching luxuriously as she rose to her feet again. Though he knew full well the gesture was innocent – he ought to be stretching too, after a workout like that – Lux averted his eyes. Watching her felt too... intimate, somehow.

Lux had been part of galactic assemblies where so much as breathing wrong could impact millions of lives. In the political arena, his intuition was keen, and his wit a blade that was as sharp as it was subtle – but the realm of physical attraction required different people skills altogether. There was enough overlap that he wasn't sailing in entirely uncharted waters, but he had very few stars to guide himself by. He'd only taken one serious lover before now, after all.

Lux sighed and went to sit on a low, sun-warmed boulder. He knew it was natural to be drawn to what one found pleasing; he was just blowing an insignificant moment out of proportion. The gossipmongers were right to call him a prude.

"Credit for your thoughts?"

Lux glanced up to find Alynna staring at him. He raised a brow, and she shrugged at him. "What? I can't read you when you're all mopey."

"I'm just..." Lux thought for a moment, and something Alynna had said to him in their first really meaningful conversation came back to him. "I'm trying to figure out who I should be for you."

"Ha! I used that two weeks ago!

"You... have a really long memory for one-liners."

Alynna grinned. "Between Ana– between my brother and my uncle and the people we worked with, I had to keep track or I'd have one of the better ones used against me a week later. It's the same with you, apparently."

"Well, I am a politician, after all." Lux grimaced. "Ex-politician, rather. But yes, I developed a similar system of memory aids in the Separatist Parliament. There was no other way to keep track of who'd taken which side of the latest intrigue. People generally don't take well to attempts to transcribe their conversations, after all."

"Doesn't sound all that different from the Republic Senate," Alynna said darkly, sitting down beside him and crossing her arms. She caught him looking at her out of the corner of her eye, and leapt back to her feet. "I– well, not that I've been to the Senate. Coruscant was really out of the way during the war, and how would I even get through the Senate buildings' security? I just know because my friend's told me about it. She worked there."

"Was this the same friend who appreciated my mother's views?" Lux asked, and instantly wished he hadn't drawn the conversation in that direction.

She sat down again, tucking her legs up to her chest. Though he'd taken pains to school his expression, some trace of regret must've shown on his face; when he turned to her, her expression was so gentle he half-expected her to reach over and hug him.

(He really, really would've liked that – or any other kind of comfort from her – though he certainly wouldn't admit it. He was definitely getting in too deep, but while the morning they'd met was something of a blur, he'd known he was too far gone the second she looked at him. He couldn't say he hadn't seen this coming.)

"Yes, it was," she said after a moment's hesitation. "She's passed on, now, but she was part of the team representing Naboo."

Naboo. Lux froze, caught in the memory of his mother telling him to run, to follow their guest to the hidden landing pad before it was too late. He hadn't listened. So many things might've been different if he'd just listened.

"You're really connected, if you had a friend working for a Senator," Lux managed to force out. A subtle tension in Alynna's shoulders loosened, but through her relief, she looked concerned for him.

"Are you–"

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Was..."

Lux didn't want to press on, but for his own safety, he had to be aware of any and all connections to his mother's old friend that were still relevant to him. He took a deep breath and clung to the stone beneath him, steeling himself. "Was your friend there when Padmé Amidala was in office?" he said at last.

"Yes. They were, uh, pretty close."

"It's probably for the best that your friend is gone, then."

Alynna bristled. "Excuse me?"

Lux winced. Curse this gods-forsaken emotional baggage; he couldn't think straight enough to even appear civil when he got caught up in the past. "I apologize, that was uncalled for. I have nothing against your friend."

"But you have something against Senator Amidala?"

"Nothing! Nothing."

Alynna stared at him, disbelieving. She still hadn't dropped her guard. Lux sighed, caving under her penetrating gaze. She deserved an explanation. "Padmé Amidala was beloved by billions, and her influence extends from beyond the grave. I just want as little to do with it as possible."

"Senator Amidala was a great woman," Alynna said hotly, her lekku flushing pink and blue-mauve. "More honest, moral, kind, and smart than half those di'kute they called Senators put together."

"And she was like the older sister I never had," Lux broke in.

Shock doused Alynna's fire. She hadn't been expecting that answer. "What?"

"Her predecessor, Senator Oshadam, was a friend of my mother's. Oshadam knew her successor was young, so she asked Mother to keep an eye on her even after the customary six-week initiation," Lux said in a careful monotone. "Of course, Padmé had learned as Queen that she could only rely on herself and a few close allies. After the whole debacle with the Trade Federation, she didn't trust easily.

"She didn't take kindly to being saddled with a mentor she didn't ask for, but Mother was stubborn, and took promises very seriously. She kept sticking her neck out for Padmé until she figured out Mother would keep helping her, whether she liked it or not. They were fast friends, after that. I was only ten at the time, and since my father was on a tour of duty with the military, I was often with them." Lux smiled bitterly. "I think it was inevitable I started to think of Padmé as part of the family."

"I... didn't know."

Lux felt his smile ease a little at that. "How could you have?" he murmured, clasping her shoulder. "This is what I meant about those intrigues. Nothing is ever taken down... unless someone dies, of course."

Alynna shifted closer on their shared seat, all her attention on him. "This is about your mother, isn't it?"

Lux could only nod, mired in emotions. Part of him wanted to tell her everything, even when she'd outright agreed that he couldn't trust her. So why did she suddenly feel like the only honest person he knew who gave a damn?

"Tell me. Please?"

He didn't speak. He couldn't, trust be damned. Alynna was a wonderful medicine, so effective she almost made him forget his grief at times. But once it wore off, the bruise beneath would only begin smarting again – and he didn't know what he'd find if he let it get that far. Soothing the symptoms was not the same as curing the injury.

"You loved her a lot, and it hurts to think about her, now that she's gone. I can tell by the way you talk about her, and I understand that," Alynna murmured. "Grief can burn you up inside. But I promise, once you've spent enough time letting yourself feel the heat, you'll realize the wound was cauterized along the way."

"Why are you doing this?" Lux was ashamed of how weak his voice sounded.

Alynna shifted her weight and put her hands out behind her to steady herself. Lux's heart skipped a beat when her hand landed on his, and skipped another when she didn't remove it. "All I know is that I don't like seeing you unhappy," she said, offering him a lopsided smile. "I can sense it's not the way you're supposed to be."

"You sound like a Jedi."

She stiffened, withdrawing her hand.

"That was a compliment, not an accusation." Lux inhaled a long breath and exhaled it slowly, and the tightness in his chest loosened some. "Onderon left the Republic early in the Clone Wars, thanks to Sanjay Rash's scheming."

Alynna growled deep in her throat. Lux smiled faintly. "I take it you don't like him much either."

"I first knew him by another name," she said. "He... wasn't kind to me."

Lux started. There were trillions of people living in the galaxy, and he got the sense he and Alynna hadn't moved in similar circles; the odds of them having known both people were almost zero. That alone made their lives remarkably intertwined, but now wasn't the time to marvel at it. "I'm so sorry to hear that."

"It's in the past, now. Keep talking."

Lux nodded, and went on. "From that point on, we were on opposite sides of a war. I didn't see Padmé for a year, and when she finally did reach out to Mother to discuss peace talks, we thought my father was dead. We knew Republic forces were to blame, and I was resentful, and angry. A member of the governing body who'd given the order was a convenient scapegoat.

"How she even got to Raxus – we were living on the Separatist capital, at the time – is still beyond me. But whatever it was, she was found out quickly. And–" Lux frowned, studying Alynna a little more closely. She looked almost like she was going to be sick. "Are you all right?"

She nodded distractedly, motioning for him to continue. There was just enough steel in her eyes to stop him from pressing her.

"Based on your reaction, I get the feeling your friend told you what happened next," he said as gracefully as he could. Choosing not to ponder the implications, he held out his hand. Alynna clasped it firmly, and that gave him the strength to finish speaking. "Padmé fled. The Separatists had a similar ban on making contact with enemy politicians to what the Republic did. We were on the capital, but my mother still got little more than summary justice before she was executed for treason."

"But that's not everything," Alynna pressed gently.

"No, it's not. But..." Lux groaned, running a hand through his hair. It came back damp with sweat from the workout, and probably his nerves, too. "I'm sorry. The day I lost her is just a few days away, now. It's difficult to think about at any given moment, but this time of year is always a lot worse."

"That's fine. Focus on the present until you're ready to confront the past." She put her free hand on his shoulder, and Lux leaned into her touch, shutting his eyes. "You've got a lot on your plate right now, anyway."

"Not so much as that. I'm just... not strong enough to handle it, I guess."

"I don't think that's true. No one can be at their best when they're living in fear, and we're still in the aftermath of one of the greatest wars in recorded history. It'll be a long time before people are certain enough of anything to feel safe again."

"When did you get so wise?" Lux teased weakly.

Alynna shrugged, nestling a little closer to his side. "It's not wisdom, just realism. If you can make it through every shade of evil the galaxy has to offer mostly intact, you start to get an idea of what to expect, the next time around."

"Then which shades have you seen?"

Alynna shifted uneasily beside him, but didn't move away. "Many of them. None of which matter right now."

"I don't think that's true."

"Still recycling one-liners, are we?"

"It wasn't a one-liner, but the point still stands."

"Focus on yourself, Lux. The work you're doing right now is important, and it has the locals excited about the future for the first time in awhile." She smiled wryly. "Turns out kitchen staff are gossips just about anywhere you go."

She used my chosen name. Not the one my father insists on, not a title I don't deserve – she's addressing the person who's just me and no one else, Lux thought, fighting to tamp down a delighted flush. "Your choice of informants is as exemplary as ever. I may have diverged from my father's expectations of his Noreino publicity campaign, just a smidge," he admitted.

"A smidge? I think you completely rewrote whatever spiel he gave you to say. I wish I could've seen the look on the bureaucrats' faces after that first speech you gave a week ago."

"I'm sorry I didn't take you with me, then. The overseer who showed me around was as confused as a Loth-cat whose owners just found its stash of bottle caps and flimsi styluses."

Alynna laughed – a good, bright laugh that filled Lux's chest with a much richer warmth than the balmy air temperature. "Tell you what," he said, turning to face her. "A week in, I'm probably old news. There shouldn't be more than a few broadcasters there at tomorrow's speech; at this rate, they can recycle any footage they need from the last four I gave. Would you like to come with me?"

The smile Alynna gave him was just as happy and warm as her laugh, but this time, there was something sharper beneath it Lux couldn't place. "I'd like that a lot."

"The tailor probably has your new wardrobe finished by now, too. We can head back to the villa soon, so you can choose something to wear tomorrow."

"I don't really care what I wear. We can do it later," she said breezily. "I meant what I said before about living in fear. Learning to fight will make you feel confident, like you're more capable of dealing with what life throws at you. Unless you've got someplace better to be, we should get back to it."

"No, no. There's no better place to be than with you. Training," Lux added quickly, his face red. "With you, training."

"All right, good." Alynna rose to her feet, beckoning him up after her. She was flushing too, he noticed, but no other sign of discomfort showed in her face or body language. "Let's switch gears and work on your kickboxing a little instead of blazing ahead, since that's what you're most familiar with. You know, as an experiment."

"Right. Though I'm probably not going to be great at that, either."

"Hey, don't worry about it. That just means there's room for improvement."

Lux smiled, feeling stronger already. Learning to fight was all well and good, but knowing Alynna would be going with him tomorrow made him ten times more eager to throw himself into it. This... connection between them was outflanking him even now, surrounding him to lie in wait for the right moment to strike – but with someone like Alynna by his side, it was incredibly easy to believe he could take on the galaxy and win.

And so Lux's training continues – and his bond with the slave girl he knows as Alynna Taari deepens. With some prodding from Ahsoka, Lux has revealed part of what befell his mother two years prior. But how will she reconcile her loyalty to Padmé with Lux's lingering anger? Are there other things Ahsoka still doesn't know about her old friend? Now that Lux and Ahsoka have two acquaintances in common, what other details might come to the surface? How much longer will she be able to conceal her true nature from Lux? Only time will tell...

Lux: *does something unexpected while fighting*

Ahsoka: Nice job dude, you made me use, like, 2% of my power instead of the usual 1

Lux: :(

This chapter was a real amalgamation of little details that will add to the plot later on. Of those that aren't spoilers, perhaps the most prevalent is that Lux is really starting to feel physically attracted to Ahsoka, despite his admirable self control. He sees getting in over his head with her as an inevitability, but whether he's still hoping to forestall that as long as possible or would welcome it is up in the air.

I will say, though, that like Ahsoka in chapter fifteen, attraction makes him liable to make mistakes or be less perceptive than usual in the fields they know most about. For example, if Ahsoka were guiding the conversation toward a desired outcome just now, even in part, I don't think Lux would have noticed – and as such, I wouldn't have written about it.

Second most prevalent and non-spoiler-y detail is the whole underlying 'could have been' theme of the story. I rejoice in meetings between Ahsoka and Lux that could've been, but weren't, and exploring what might have happened otherwise. We learned this chapter what I think some of you already suspected, considering this is a universe where Lux and Ahsoka never met until the start of the story: that Padmé went to Raxus alone.

What transpired there, though... that's a question to be answered another time.

On a less Star Wars note, I've noticed I'm very tired early in the week because that's when I generally work, so I may shift my updates schedule to compensate for that. I'll keep you all posted, and either way, I'll talk to you in the next chapter!