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“Don’t worry about me,” Ben said, rising. “I can take care of myself. She’s just a girl, Dad. So—what did you want to talk to me about?”

Luke smiled sadly. “That,” he said.

“Oh.” Ben shifted in his seat uneasily. “Listen, I—I need to get out of here for a bit. That okay?”

“Sure,” Luke said. His son had been in rougher places than this relatively calm spaceport, and he had aided the authorities today. He would be fine. As the youth rose, Luke added, “I know that Lando is a few days away from having the Rockhound ready, but I’m beginning to think that we need to move sooner rather than later. Start moving the flotilla toward the Maw. Lando can catch up with us.”

“Sounds good to me,” Ben said, already almost out the door of the cockpit. “The sooner we’re done with these Sith, the better I’ll like it.”

As he watched Ben leave, Luke knew he was not the first parent to feel his own heart ache at his child’s pain. But most parents didn’t have to worry about their child losing their heart to a Sith, either. Like everything the Sith were involved with, they made even teenage romance just that much more painful and dark.

Alone in her room, munching on a pak’pah fruit, Vestara sensed that something had happened between Luke and Ben. She couldn’t tell what, exactly. Ben had been upset, but not with her, when he had knocked on the door earlier, bringing a few pieces of the fruit as a peace offering.

“Dad and I are heading out for a bit,” he said.

“Oh? I thought he disliked this planet,” she said, realizing almost immediately how disingenuous it sounded.

“Yeah, me, too, but you know how it goes. Parents.” He gave her a grin that did not reach his eyes. “Don’t know how long we’ll be gone, but I brought you this in case you got hungry.”

She let her face fall, slightly. “I see. Thank you.”

Ben looked uncomfortable and gave her a shrug. She smiled at him. “It’s okay, Ben. My father would have done the same.”

“Funny how different but similar they are.”

“Agreed.” They looked at each other awkwardly for a moment, then Ben flashed her another quick smile and closed the door. She heard the slight hum as it again locked into place.

She was hungry, and was glad of at least something to eat while she focused in on the Skywalkers. She did not know the particulars, but she supposed she did not have to. Luke was uncomfortable with Ben’s attraction to her, Ben was upset at being lectured. Vestara felt certain that if he knew just how guarded Ben was being, he would not worry nearly so much.

He did like her, and as she had confided to her father, she liked Ben as well. It certainly made her job easy, although it added an element of disquietude that was unexpected. Earlier that day, after they had spoken to Kelkad about the Klatooinian history of slavery, she and Ben had been perilously close to an argument about ideals—something she had tried assiduously to avoid. Ben was good-natured and forgiving, but he was also intelligent. He would not be an easy convert, if indeed he could be persuaded to walk the dark path at all, and if she ever allowed him a moment to think, really think, about just how different they were, she would lose this battle.

She’d acted fast, letting herself choke on the piece of pak’pah fruit, knowing that she could remove the blockage instantly using the Force. The danger had been real—a non–Force-user would have died. It had to be real, for Ben would have sensed an act. The incident had completely distracted him, and greater distraction came shortly thereafter in the form of a mad Force-user heading for the Fountain. She and Ben had worked remarkably well as a team, and as she recalled the event, Vestara smiled slightly. Even sitting in the unpleasant old cell had been entertaining—and informative. In order to get the jokes, Vestara had to ask what many apparently common things were. Perhaps because she had asked out of a genuine desire to know so she could appreciate the humor, Ben had been readily forthcoming with explanations. And so Vestara had